John Travolta

John Joseph Travolta (Born February 18, 1954) is an Academy Award nominated American actor, singer, and dancer.

Biography

Early life

Travolta, the youngest of the six children born to Salvatore and Helen Travolta, was born in Englewood, New Jersey. His father, Salvatore, was an Italian American semi-professional football player turned tire salesman. His mother was an Irish American actress and singer under her maiden name Helen Cecilia Burke who had appeared in The Sunshine Sisters, a radio vocal group, and acted and directed before becoming a high school drama teacher.

Career

After dropping out of Dwight Morrow High School after his junior year, Travolta moved to New York City to get a job as a performer. He landed roles in the touring company of Grease and on Broadway in Over Here! singing the Sherman Brothers' song "Dream Drummin'". Travolta also cut singles for a local record company, but the songs were quickly forgotten. But eventually, he moved to Los Angeles, California to further his career in show business.

Travolta gained his first major movie role as Billy Nolan, a sadistic bully who taunted Sissy Spacek's Carrie White in the horror film Carrie (1976). Around the same time he landed his star-making role as Vinnie Barbarino in the TV sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–1979) in which his sister, Ellen, also occasionally appeared (as Arnold Horshack's mother).

Around this time he also had a hit single called "Let Her In", peaking at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In the next few years, he appeared in some of his most memorable screen roles: Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever (1977) and as Danny Zuko in Grease (1978). His mother appeared as an extra in Saturday Night Fever and his sister Ellen appeared as an extra in Grease. Travolta performed several of the songs on the Grease soundtrack album, that eventually went on to sell more than 10 million copies. In 1980, Travolta inspired a nationwide country music craze that followed on the heels of his hit film, Urban Cowboy, in which he starred with Debra Winger.

After Urban Cowboy came a string of flops that sidelined his acting career (some suggest that he was typecast as a disco stud or 1970s icon could be the reason why his agent has intervened on several occasions to either turn down an acting role). During that time he was offered, but turned down, the lead role for what would become a series of box office hits, including American Gigolo, An Officer and A Gentleman, and Splash. His only hit film during this period was alongside Kirstie Alley and a baby voiced by Bruce Willis in Look Who's Talking. However, it wasn't until he played Vincent Vega in Quentin Tarantino's hit Pulp Fiction (1994), for which he received an Academy Award nomination, that his career was revived. The movie shifted him back onto the A-list, and he was inundated with offers. Ironically, before Travolta took the role, he had first visited Tarantino who was living in a ramshackle apartment in Los Angeles, the same apartment that Travolta had been living in when he got his start. Notable roles following Pulp Fiction include a movie-buff loan shark in Get Shorty (1995), an FBI agent in Face/Off (1997), a desperate attorney in A Civil Action (1998) and a military detective in The General's Daughter (1999).

Travolta also starred in Battlefield Earth (2000) (which is based on a work of science fiction by L. Ron Hubbard), in which he played the leader of a group of aliens that enslaves humanity on a bleak future Earth. The film received almost universally negative reviews and did poorly at the box office. Travolta, who converted to Scientology in 1975 and endorses the teachings of the late Hubbard, had hoped that the film would be well received and be the first in a series of Hubbard film adaptations. In fact, the film won a Razzie Award for Worst Film of the Year at the 2000 awards. John Travolta will play Edna Turnblad in the 2007 adaption of Hairspray.

Personal life

Travolta's affiliation with Scientology has caused some controversy. In 1998 he was named in a lawsuit involving a former member who claimed that he was promised that his homosexuality could be cured. The lawsuit alleged that the organization frequently cited Travolta as proof that the organization could in fact change a person's sexual orientation. A lawyer for Travolta replied, "This looks like complete hogwash. Travolta is a happily married man, which proves he isn't gay".^*

There has also been widespread speculation that Travolta's son Jett does not have Kawasaki syndrome, as he and wife Kelly Preston have claimed, but is autistic, and the Travoltas are denying him treatment because autism is not recognized by Scientology. This is primarily because the triggers listed by Preston (various environmental toxins) have not been linked to Kawasaki Syndrome in the past, and because this illness is primarily found in Japanese children under the age of five. To date, however, this claim has not been confirmed.^*" target="_blank" >On April 10th, 2006, Hollywood, Interrupted made a public plea to Travolta and Preston to treat their son properly, and claimed that five reliable sources--including representatives from Cure Autism Now and The Autism Perspective, had confirmed Jett Travolta's affliction with autism. [http://www.hollywoodinterrupted.com/archives/a_plea_from_hollywood_john_travolta_open_your_heart.phtml John's brother Joey is active in autism related charities.

Questions have also been raised regarding what kind of agreements were made between Travolta and then President Bill Clinton, regarding how Travolta would portray Clinton in the movie Primary Colors and whether Clinton would pressure the German government to remove its ban on Scientology. Travolta was quoted about the issue in May 1998 issue of George magazine:

In another interview Travolta admitted that his portrayal of Clinton was much more kind than that in the book Primary Colors. The next year, in November 1998, Clinton sent Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to urge German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel to grant Scientology the status of a registered religion (see ^*).

Travolta was previously involved with actress Diana Hyland, who died of breast cancer (reportedly in Travolta's arms) in 1977.

Travolta is a qualified pilot and owns five airplanes, including a former Qantas Boeing 707-138. The plane bears the name Jett Clipper Ella in honor of his son Jett and his daughter Ella. Pan Am was a large operator of the 707 and used Clipper in their names. His house in Jumbolair, Florida has its own runway and taxiway right to the door. In 1993, Travolta successfully performed an emergency landing of a plane with electric trouble at Washington National Airport, now known as Reagan Washington National Airport.

In 1992, he wrote and illustrated a short children's book entitled Propeller One-Way Night Coach about the fictional journey of an 8-year-old boy named Jeff across the USA in the 1950s.

Travolta has had a song written about him by country music artist Cledus T. Judd. Livin' Like John Travolta, and is a parody of Livin' La Vida Loca by Ricky Martin.

He celebrated with the Australian national football team in their dressing room following their qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Travolta is currently writing his autobiography, which will be out soon.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Hairspray	Edna Turnblad	(pre-production)
	Wild Hogs	Unknown	(pre-production)
	Dallas	J.R. Ewing	(pre-production)
2006	A Light Knight's Odyssey	Dave	(voice only; currently filming)
2006	Lonely Hearts	Elmer C. Robinson
2005	Walking on the Moon 3D	Himself	(narrator; documentary)
2005	Be Cool	Chili Palmer
2004	Ladder 49	Captain Mike Kennedy
	A Love Song for Bobby Long	Bobby Long
	The Punisher	Howard Saint
2003	Basic	Hardy
2002	Austin Powers in Goldmember	Goldmember	(cameo)
2001	Domestic Disturbance	Frank Morrison
2001	Swordfish	Gabriel Shear
2000	Welcome to Hollywood	Himself	(documentary)
	Lucky Numbers	Russ Richards
	Battlefield Earth	Terl
1999	The General's Daughter	Warr. Off. Paul Brenner/Sgt. Frank White
1998	A Civil Action	Jan Schlichtmann
	The Thin Red Line	Brigadier General Quintard
	Junket Whore	Himself	(documentary)
	Primary Colors	Governor Jack Stanton
1997	The Last Days of Chasen's	Himself	(documentary)
	Mad City	Sam Baily
	Face/Off	Sean Archer/Castor Troy
	She's So Lovely	Joey
1996	Michael	Michael
	Phenomenon	George Malley
	A Scientology Information Film	Himself	(short subject)
	Broken Arrow	Maj. Vic 'Deak' Deakins
1995	Get Shorty	Chili Palmer
1995	White Man's Burden	Louis Pinnock
1994	Pulp Fiction	Vincent Vega
1993	Look Who's Talking Now	James Ubriacco
1992	Boris and Natasha	Himself	(cameo)
1991	Shout	Jack Cabe
1991	Eyes of an Angel	Bobby
1990	Look Who's Talking Too	James Ubriacco
1989	Look Who's Talking	James Ubriacco
1989	The Experts	Travis
1985	Perfect	Adam Lawrence
1983	Staying Alive	Tony Manero
1983	Two of a Kind	Zack
1981	Blow Out	Jack Terry
1980	Urban Cowboy	Buford 'Bud' Uan Davis
1978	Moment by Moment	Strip Harrison
1978	Grease	Danny Zuko
1977	Saturday Night Fever	Tony Manero
1976	The Boy in the Plastic Bubble	Tod Lubitch
1976	Carrie	Billy Nolan
1975	The Devil's Rain	Danny

Salary

Basic (2003) $20,000,000
A Saga of the Year 3000 (2000) $10,000,000 + Profit Points
The General's Daughter (1999) $20,000,000
A Civil Action (1998) $20,000,000
Primary Colors (1998) $18,000,000
Mad City (1997) $20,000,000
Face/Off (1997) $15,000,000
Michael (1996) $10,000,000
Phenomenon (1996) $8,000,000
Broken Arrow (1996) $7,000,000
Get Shorty (1995) $3,500,000
Pulp Fiction (1994) $140,000

Television work

The Tenth Level (1975)
Welcome Back, Kotter (cast member from 1975 - 1978)
The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976)
Basements (1987)
Chains of Gold (1991) (also writer)
Punk'd (2004) (Uncredited)

Music career

Discography

Over Here! (Original Cast Album) (1974)
John Travolta (1976)
Can't Let You Go (1977)
Travolta Fever (1978)
Grease (movie soundtrack) (1978)
Let Her In: The Best of John Travolta (1996)
The Collection (2003)

Singles

"You Set My Dreams To Music" (1969)
"Goodnight Mr. Moon" (1969)
"Rainbows" (1969)
"Settle Down" (1970)
"Moonlight Lady" (1971)
"Right Time Of The Night" (1972)
"Big Trouble" (1972)
"What Would They Say" (1973)
"Back Doors Crying" (1973)
"Dream Drummin'" (1974)
"Easy Evil" (1975)
"Can't Let You Go" (1975)
"Let Her In" (1976)
"Slow Dancin'" (1976)
"It Had To Be You" (1976)
"I Don't Know What I Like About You Baby" (1976)
"Baby, I Could Be So Good At Lovin' You" (1977)
"Razzamatazz" (1977)
"Sandy" (1978)
"Greased Lightnin'" (1978)
"Never Gonna Fall In Love Again" (1980)

Trivia

Many of John Travolta's roles involve his characters dying:

Carrie, his car is flipped over by Carrie and explodes
Pulp Fiction, he is shot repeatedly with an MAC-10 by Butch
White Man's Burden, shot
Broken Arrow, blown up
Phenomenon, dies of cancer
Michael, he dies naturally/uses all of his powers
Face/Off, Technically his character does not die, but he performs the death scene
Mad City, Blown up/suicide
Punisher, blown up
A Love Song for Bobby Long, natural causes

External links

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